Vortex 3-18-2012

[Jax]

I am given to understand the diver was Full Cave, and familiar with Vortex. So sad.

 

[oceanbound]

Grace, I am very sorry for your loss. I am not a cave diver, but anytime one of our fellow divers passes on, it effects us all as for the most part we are all "family", the second part is to learn and avoid similar tragedies. We know that often information about accidents involving diving is not always accurate.

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

I hope all you let this sink in. Larry was a hell of a nice guy. However the dive he made was way over his head. He was a good diver but no matter how good you think you are, ADVANCED SIDEMOUNT CAVES need no be left to the experts. No dive cert prepares you for this, period. Open water divers, you can easily suffer the same fate if you dont stay out of the cave at vortex. Listen before its too late please.
Larry, rest in peace. My thoughts go out to your family.

 

[GLENFWB]

Larry and I took Intro Cave together. He was a good diver but not sure what type of dive he was doing at Vortex yesterday. I saw his family posting on his Facebook page yesterday as soon as they heard the news. Very sad for his family and the cave diving community. Larry was a nice guy and we laughed a lot in between the agony of Intro. Cave.

 

[Heath Sapp]

Please tell me that I read this wrong and there is not 3 divers that passed away this weekend. The way I read is 2 at Ginny and 1 at Vortex.

 

[tstormdiver]

Open water divers, you can easily suffer the same fate if you dont stay out of the cave at vortex. Listen before its too late please.

I will back this up 100%, as I was almost also a statistic at Vortex about 4 yrs ago. I went in as an OW Diver (Assist. Inst.). I was very lucky & blessed that I survived my dive & I learned my lesson.After getting a well deserved butt chewing, I then pursued the proper training. There is nothing in a cave worth dying for,... nothing. If you want to cave dive, get the training for the dives you want to do, the caves aren't going anywhere. They will wait for you.

 

[lv2dive]

Please tell me that I read this wrong and there is not 3 divers that passed away this weekend. The way I read is 2 at Ginny and 1 at Vortex.

There was a thread split off from this one regarding the one incident (that I've heard of) at Ginnie this weekend.

 

[Heath Sapp]

I agree, no training no dive. do I want to cave dive yes I do very bad, will I enter a cave before I get the training, no way in hell, have I looked into the cave thinking I want to go in there?yes. many times, but there is that voice in my head that says do you want to live? yes. If you want to go in that cave, work more hours to get the training and equipment? I just don't understand why someone that has taken one class thinks it is ok! it is never ok to go in a cave without the training. Sorry my rant for the day.

 

[DandyDon]

So I see references to what may have happened. Before more tangents take off, does anyone know the divers training, what he tried, and what went wrong?

 

[ucfdiver]

I am given to understand the diver was [-]Full[/-] Cave-trained at some level, and familiar with Vortex. So sad.

Edit: Conflicting info.

Jax, with all due respect it's generally a good idea to stop posting stuff until it's confirmed. You don't have to personally make every other post on every accident thread, especially when you have limited sources for the information. Doing this is the #1 reason people don't post what they DO know, is they don't want it to be used for speculation.

James, The Ginnie fatality, was it in the Devils system?

Yes, but no cave training at all.